Family Ties
by AquarianAussie
Summary: As Sophie and Howl's relationship continues to blossom, so too do the relationships around them. The Jenkins family have a lot to learn about love, trust, and realising how far one would go to keep the other out of trouble.
1. Ordinarily Dull

_Hello my fellow Fanfictioners, and welcome to my first story! This is based on the bookverse of Howl's Moving Castle, but may feature a small amount of movieverse content (I like both, so I wanted to include both!). It's set a little bit after the first book. I'm trying my best to keep to the style that Dianne Wynne Jones wrote in. Of course, all characters are owned by both Dianne Wynne Jones and Studio Ghibli. Enjoy!_

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It was two weeks into June, and Sophie Hatter was completely and utterly bored. May Day had come and gone, along with its festive food, its bright, flowing apparel, its alcoholic aroma and its sighs of short, yet passionate romantic flings. After the rush of numerous customers buying red roses by the bunch, china white lilies by the dozen, and butter yellow daffodils by the armful, the lull of May Day's aftereffects had finally taken its toll on poor Sophie.

"Drats," Sophie muttered to herself, as she realised she had once again accidentally overwatered the potted pansies, "I really must find something more enlightening to do other than stand here, and keep these darned things alive!"

The warm, dry weather that came with June, alongside the sheer and utter boredom from the lack of customers had put Sophie in a foul mood. Looking over her shoulder to the large, round wooden clock on the wall, Sophie decided to close the shop, for she had not had a single customer during the last forty-five minutes. Closing and locking the shop door, putting away potted plants and carefully taking arrays of multi-coloured flower arrangements from the display window took her less than ten minutes. With one final look out of the shop window, before turning to go back into the house, Sophie stopped to admire the colour of the fellow houses and the stone pavement that were tinted a rich, warm orange from the late afternoon sun. The arid air lightly flittered through the numerous trees on the street, and the slight smell of wonderful food from the nearby restaurants and pubs began to make its way down the road.

Brushing off any residual specks of dirt from her light, sky blue cotton dress, Sophie made her way back into the house. Since the numerous, yet daunting events of breaking Howl and Calcifer's contract, destroying the Witch of the Waste and her fire demon and returning Ben Suliman and Prince Justin to their former selves, Howl had become ever so lenient towards Sophie's tendency to decluttering, cleaning and arranging the main areas of the house however she pleased. Once he realised that all it took was for a woman's touch to make their house feel like a home, his pedantic, almost obsessive ways had been limited towards his designated areas: a medium sized study which housed both his and Michael's magical experiments, and the back courtyard, which now contained a small red brick shed.

* * *

Since breaking the contract between Howl and Calcifer, Sophie had noticed little, yet significant changes in Howl's behaviour and manner towards other members of the household and town, including herself. Small notions such as a softer tone of voice when having a conversation or asking questions, spending less time priming himself in the bathroom, actively wanting to patriciate in completing household chores, and lend a helping hand around Market Chipping were just some of the many things that had changed about Howl recently. Not to mention the way he held her hand when showing her a new magical contraption, or the way he squeezed her shoulder and smiled as he talked to her, or even the way his raven hair and emerald green eyes made him look absolutely handsome –

"Sophie! With the way you're smiling absently and staring off into thin air like that, I'd have thought that you had become senile!"

And there is was, one of the few things that she did not like about Howl.

"Oh, sorry!" Sophie remarked pointedly, her mild annoyance returning from her dull day, "but you're not the one who has had to stand in that hot shop all day, with very few customers coming to buy flowers!"

Sophie, now blushing from being caught out by surprise, was now staring at Howl, her determined eyes and her upright posture making the wizard smirk.

"Surely you don't think it is entirely terrible, Sophie, or you would have shut the shop and stormed around hours ago," Howl retaliated, "we would all know about it if you were in an absolutely awful mood."

Despite the fact that Sophie complained, the quiet days did give her time to day dream and process the manifest of events that had happened to her during the past year. So instead of arguing further, she decided to remain silent.

Howl, concluding that this was the time to delve into the deeper meaning of Sophie's minute tantrum, took a step towards Sophie, ran his strong yet delicate hands through her flowing auburn hair, which then rested on her shoulder.

"Cariad, we all know that you work tirelessly around this place. You keep our home looking beautiful, and you put in a great amount of effort in keeping the shop running. We don't say it enough, but Michael, Calcifer and I are so very thankful for you. You should know that you deserve whatever you want for what you do around here."

At this, Sophie's heart decided to give a little jolt, but not for the same reasons when she was cursed into an old woman. Despite the fact that she could occasionally become very annoyed by Howl, his genuine sweet words and actions reminded her that she was wanted and loved in the castle.

"I'm just slightly worried that because of things being very slow with the shop over the past few weeks, we might begin to struggle," Sophie said quietly with half a smile.

"Don't worry, Cariad," Howl began to explain, "we did extremely well over the May Day period. In fact, we did so well that it has put us in a surplus for the next couple of months!"

This was news to Sophie, but now that Howl mentioned it, she did begin to take this into account.

'_I suppose that it could be possible_' Sophie thought to herself. Each family member had a role to play in running the shop: Sophie was the main face of the shop, and was often there to open, close and carry out customer orders. Howl was in charge of maintaining the garden on the edge of the Waste, and often spent early mornings distributing spells and concoctions to keep the numerous plants and flowers in pristine condition. Michael was in charge of the financial aspect of the business, and would spend nights counting money, dividing takings into separate accounts, and updating the prices of different flowers and arrangements. Calcifer, who was now free to roam and wander as he pleased, would occasionally travel to parts of the country and inform the others of any new plants and flowers that he thought would make a good addition to their garden.

On top of his contract with Calcifer being broken, the responsibility of running the shop and keeping his family happy and healthy had jolted Howl into becoming extremely aware of his spending habits, to the point he was almost frugal. Realising his apprentice's extraordinary ability to handle the financial aspect of the family had taught Howl that there was only a certain amount of spending, saving and investment money to go around. Because of this, not only were the family able to save money for their future, they were more often able to enjoy small delicacies such as a cream and custard cake from Cesari's, or even a family meal at the local pub. Despite the fact that Howl would often wear his suits out to these occasions, and encourage his family to follow his lead, his everyday wear had become a lot simpler and quaint. His newfound style had appeared to please Sophie, because she no longer grumbled and made short remarks about his dress.

Sophie, deciding that Howl's reasoning was more than enough, smiled at Howl in full, and made her way towards the study to investigate Michael's newest spell. In recent months, since Howl had become more involved in the family, the war had ended and there was less nervous tension in the country, Michael's magical abilities had soared: he was now taking less time on decoding spells, creating remarkable magical concoctions and imagining almost impossible inventions.

"Still studying Michael? What are you making this time?" Sophie asked.

At this, Michael jumped in his seat, "Sophie! I didn't hear you come in!"

Sophie thought this to be strange, for she was not entirely quiet when entering the study – the hinge on the door squeaked, and she stepped in what appeared to be green gravel.

"I don't know what has gotten into to lately, Michael, surely you heard me come in," Sophie said.

"I guess I must have been concentrating too hard, there's a lot of things on my mind", Michael responded almost sheepishly.

Deciding not to push things further, Sophie looked over Michael's shoulder to the spell that he was currently working on.

"It's a sort of cooling spell. I'm hoping it will be able to cool the house and the shop on really hot days," Michael said proudly, "I thought of it myself when I was at Cesari's and it was really hot in the kitchens."

"He's becoming really clever now that he's turned sixteen. Most magical apprentice's abilities seem to really take off around then."

It was Sophie's turn to jump; Howl's voice and body appeared out of nowhere. Michael and Howl laughed much to Sophie's dismay.

"I thought I told you not to appear out of nowhere! You gave me a fright!" Sophie exclaimed jaggedly.

"Aww Cariad," Howl replied between laughs, "that was when you were and old lady, and your heart couldn't take the shock. Besides, I walked in just as plainly as you did. My guess is you were concentrating just as hard as Michael was."

At this, all Sophie could do was sigh. She had had enough of today's events, and did not have the strength to either argue or complain any further. Deciding that is was time to cook something for dinner, she made her way from the laughter-filled study to the empty kitchen. Calcifer was not resting in the hearth tonight, so she built and lit a fire herself, all while talking encouraging words to the small flame, which soon became a large, hearty fire.


	2. A Well Deserved Want

After dinner was had and the dishes were cleaned, the content members of the household set about their own ways for the evening. It just so happened that both Howl and Sophie had decided to take to opposite chairs in the living room, each reading their own novel. In the midst of her novel, a fantastic idea popped into Sophie's head. Looking up at Howl, who was concentrating intently on his book, Sophie cleared her throat in an attempt to get the man's attention. After no response from clearing her throat, or saying his name repeatedly, the young woman made her way over to the wizard. Deciding that yanking the book out of his relaxed hand would be the best option, Sophie did so. His look of surprise and mild annoyance gave Sophie the reaction and attention that she wanted.

"Sophie! Why would you do that? I was just getting to the best part!" Howl blared with wide eyes.

Sophie just laughed at his reaction and tone of voice, and said "it seems that everyone here today has had trouble with listening to what's going on around them!"

The look on Howl's face went from annoyance to a smirk, as he then held onto both of Sophie's hands. Sophie, who thought that she was about to be swept off her feet from one of Howl's sweet gestures, was then pulled onto his lap, where he then began to tickle her. In between burst of laughter and cries for him to stop, neither of the pair noticed the green flames which slowly crept into the otherwise dimly lit room.

"Oh for crying out loud you two, you had to be doing that just when I come in!" Calcifer shouted.

Both Sophie and Howl stopped all at once at the new presence in the room. Bright red glowed remarkably on Sophie's cheeks as she stood up from Howl's lap, straightened her dress once again, and cleared her throat.

"Calcifer! I didn't know that you'd be in tonight! What brings you here?" Sophie asked, her voice wobbly from the intruding fire demon.

"Well I was hoping to inform you both of some new flowers that I had found to the south of here, but I can see that you're both busy!" the demon interjected.

"Oh well, then that's great news Calcifer! You'll have to come and show us," Howl added, his voice much more even than Sophie's embarrassed one.

"Well I would absolutely love to, but seeing as you're both behaving terribly, I've decided to leave it until later. Goodbye!"

And with that, the fire demon shot rather quickly up the chimney. Howl chuckled, and Sophie just stood there with her now pink cheeks, looking at the ground.

"Uhh," Sophie began, "the reason why I wanted to gain your attention in the first place was to actually take your offer on me getting anything I wanted."

"Go on," Howl said slowly.

"Well I was actually thinking of going to visit Lettie tomorrow. I haven't seen her for so long, and I thought it would be good to catch up on her life," Sophie explained.

After Howl thought for a few seconds, he agreed, "that sounds like a fantastic idea, Cariad. You deserve some time off from the shop once in a while."

Sophie now looked up into Howl's eyes without any embarrassment, smiled and thanked him.

"I am a little busy tomorrow morning, I have to visit the blacksmith and see to a problem with his anvil. Something about horse shoes breaking easily. Must be some stupid magical prank," Howl meandered, "I'm sure that Michael would be absolutely fine to open tomorrow."

Sophie agreed with him, and decided that it was time for her to head to bed.

"If I'm travelling tomorrow, it's best that I get to bed early. Goodnight Howl," said the young woman.

"Goodnight Cariad, sleep well," Howl replied lovingly.

'_What a lucky person I am to have such a loving and caring family_' Sophie thought as she walked up the stairs to her bedroom.


	3. Family Visits and Sisterly Love

_Thank you all for reading so far! I have been extremely busy these past couple of months achieving some goals in life. I hope to upload some more chapters more frequently in the next few months._

* * *

Sophie awoke the next morning at seven thirty, showered, dressed and ate a quick breakfast before getting ready to travel to visit Lettie. At precisely eight thirty, when Sophie decided that she looked quite acceptable to visit her sister in an emerald green dress, and her hair tied back into a loose braid, she began to make her way out the door when she realised that something was wrong. In all her excitement to finally visit her gorgeous sister, she had forgotten all about the shop. Michael had not come down the stairs to open. Storming up the stairs, her annoyance picking up slightly, she made her way down the hallway to Michael's bedroom. Knocking on the door lightly at first and then loudly the second time, the door was finally answered to a rather tired looking Michael.

"You went to bed before us, boy! Why in the world are you still sleeping? You knew that you had to open the shop this morning," Sophie harped.

Between yawns, Michael replied, "Sorry Sophie, I must have been thinking too hard about that spell last night, I mustn't have slept very well."

Sophie forgave him and dismissed the matter, "just make sure you're ready in half an hour to open the shop. We have a business to run and it won't run if it isn't open in the first place."

Once again, Sophie made her way down the stairs thinking about Michael's recent bouts of tiredness.

_'I understand that most teenagers like to lie in bed on Saturday mornings, but this is more often than that, it's becoming ridiculous!' Sophie thought, 'Maybe I should ask Michael if he's okay or ask Howl if this is some kind of magical sickness'._

After the morning's slight hiccup, Sophie finally made her way onto Market Chipping's main road. Deciding not to untidy her hair, and finding comfort in being able to afford it, Sophie decided to be taken to Lettie's house by horse and carriage. The trip took no longer than thirty minutes, and after paying the driver two silver pieces, Sophie made her way up the stairs towards Lettie's house.

The house itself was situated five minutes away from Mrs Fairfax's, and similar to the older sorceress' place, Lettie's house was also laden with endless, brightly coloured flowers, boisterous green hedges and fruiting trees that buzzed with honeybees. The combination of being under Mrs Fairfax's instruction and then marrying and moving in with Ben Suliman had helped Lettie to delve into magic with her own personal touch. Lettie's special ability was being able to create spells based on nature. She was able to create sleeping draughts with currants and Valerian, tonics using ginseng and honey for energy, and potions made of olives to cure a common cold.

Knowing she would find Lettie towards the back garden, toiling away at her latest invention, Sophie made her way down the steel coloured slate pathway, which led to the back half of the large house. Sophie spotted her sister working amongst the small gourd vines, and called out to her.

"Lettie, I'm finally here!"

The young blonde, who was always up to date with the latest fashion statements, donned a knee length, pastel pink dress, with gold, gleaming trinkets in her ears. Her hair was tied up in a big, sleek up-do.

"By gosh Lettie," Sophie cried, "your dress gets shorter and shorter each time I see you!"

"Now is that the way you should greet your sister?" Lettie retorted playfully, "you should know that we aren't dressing the way we did thirty years ago!"

Both Hatter girls laughed at each other and embraced, content with the familiarity of family.

"How good it is to see you, I've been looking forward to seeing how far you've come with your house and magic," Sophie said.

"Oh Sophie, I've been so eager to finally show you everything," Lettie replied, "you would not believe how incredibly happy I am here."

"I'm really glad, Lettie," Sophie continued, "come and show me around the garden and tell me how everything has been for you."

Despite the two young women wandering and chatting in the garden for almost two hours, time went incredibly quickly for Sophie. They had explored numerous spots around the garden, including the vegetable patch, which held numerous, abnormally large produce, then the front and side gardens, which was host to a variety of medicinal and decorative bushes and trees. They finally moved onto the hothouse, which contained a select few exotic crossbreeds which both Lettie and Ben had experimented on.

Noticing that Sophie had started to sweat slightly at the humidity inside the hothouse, Lettie gently grasped Sophie's shoulder, bringing her back from her thoughts.

"Sophie, dear, you seem tired already. Has horrible Howl been making you slave away for him?" Lettie asked.

Laughing, Sophie replied, "No Lettie, ever since I saved him and Calcifer from their curse, I've been treated almost like a princess! I make sure that all the chores and the shop duties are divided up equally. I suppose this hot weather has made me a bit sleepy."

"Good," Lettie grinned, drawing Sophie down yet another pathway, "let us go back into the house for a bit of lunch."

Sophie was led by Lettie into a fabulous, bright, open sitting room: the royal blue couches surrounded a round, oak coffee table, the white curtains sat like floating archways around the ajar French windows, and close to the entire back wall was covered in dark, wooden book shelves. All Sophie could do was gasp and gape at such a magnificent room.

"Oh Lettie, this room is absolutely gorgeous! You are so incredibly lucky to have married Ben!" Sophie exclaimed.

Smiling, and sitting down on the nearest blue couch, Lettie looked up to Sophie, "You and I both know that I am extremely fortunate, and I'm incredibly grateful for what I have, Sophie... But you know that I didn't marry Ben for money. In fact, I didn't even know that Ben was apart of an old, rich family until shortly before our wedding."

Sophie joined her sister on the same couch, and held her hand, "Of course not, Lettie. Despite Mother's ways, we have all grown up humble and generous."

Sophie knew that Ben Sulliman had come from old money, from a long lineage of powerful witches and wizards, hence the stunning house that both he and Lettie lived in currently. She also knew that while Howl did have some individuals with magic in his extended family, his immediate family was not rich, nor did they truly support his magical talent. Despite this fact, with the success of the flower shop combined with clients wanting Michael and Howl's services, they had indeed been doing very well.

A woman, dressed in a clean, pressed maid's uniform, brought the women sandwiches and tea for their lunch.

Having cooled down from the humidity of the hot house, Sophie found herself quite relaxed, happily eating the egg and salad rolls, and the lavender tea that had been prepared earlier. Unbeknown to her, Lettie had been eyeing her slyly in between the small talk they made between bites of sandwich.

"So Sophie," Lettie began, "when do you and Howl plan on getting married?"

Sophie startled, and began to cough at the surprise; Lettie's bold statement had made her almost choke on her sandwich.

"Dear God, Lettie!", Sophie exclaimed in between coughs, "what makes you think that Howl and I are getting married any time soon?!"

"Well for starters, it is quite obvious that you and Howl have been romantically involved with each other for some time. You have lived together in the same house for quite some time - the townspeople, and myself, are beginning to wonder if you have already married privately! Not to mention some of the elderly people calling you both quite scandalous," Lettie explained.

"Oh," Sophie piped quite meekly, "I suppose because of everything that has happened this past year, time has just slipped away. I only realised yesterday that May Day was well over two months ago."

"Yes, dear, we were all hoping to hear the happy news by now!" Lettie sighed cheekily, "I suppose with how good of a lover he'd be, you wouldn't have time for any of the little things."

At this, Sophie looked to the ground, her cheeks flushing slightly, slightly shaking her head.

'Oh, what a prude I must be,' Sophie thought to herself, 'Howl and I have barely mentioned anything to do with marriage, and even less so of becoming... intimate.'

"Ho ho," Lettie chuckled, "are you trying to tell me something dear Sophie?"

At this, Sophie only pursed her lips.

Lettie gasped, "you mean to tell me, that after all this, after all the rumours of Howl being an amazing lover, that you have not once - not even once - had sex with him?"

Sophie pulled one of the matching blue couch cushions over her face. Her natural meekness had taught her not to even think of such dirty things.

"Wow, Sophie," Lettie continued, "and here I was thinking that you and Howl were spending all your spare time making love like rabbits in heat!"

All Sophie could do was groan, "Lettie, you know how I have been with such things. I've always been taught of the taboo of the subject."

"Yes, well, times are changing, sweetheart - and you need to be able to keep up with such things. Don't let the elders of the town rule over your thoughts. You are not that much older than me, so you need to start thinking your age," Lettie retorted.

Sophie had no fight in her, partially because of her weariness, and partially because of her inexperience in anything romantic.

Lettie pulled the pillow away from Sophie's head, and grasped her hand firmly, "I'm sorry I have such a strong opinion on the matter Sophie. You know that I want nothing more than for you to be happy in life."

"Thank you Lettie, I know you do," Sophie smiled slightly, "even though you are nothing more than a scandalous young thing!"

Laughing at this, the girls had resolved all previous conflicts.

"I think I should make my way back home now," Sophie sighed, "I'm scared that the shop would be an absolute mess by now."

"Of course, Sophie," Lettie replied, "when you're more ready to progress to the next stage in your relationship with Howl, let me know. I know quite a few little shops that would make you absolutely squirm!"

Biting her lip and smiling shyly at this, Sophie made her goodbyes to her sister, and made her way back to the flower shop.


End file.
